Bonnaroo: A fever dream

Jun. 18, 2014

The 13th annual Bonnaroo Music Festival provided a fantasy-like escape where the likes of Kanye West, Elton John, Frank Ocean and more serenaded attendees in a magical dreamscape. / Photo courtesy of Bonnaroo

Written by

Setareh Baig

Editor-in-Chief @heysetareh_

If you ask someone who attended Bonnaroo music festival this past weekend what it was like, they would probably describe it as a fever dream.

Reality was a distant memory last weekend in Manchester, Tennessee as the best festival lineup of the year took the 13th annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Thousands of music lovers came together to live on a small patch of land, sharing an intense closeness brought by four days of music, arts, comedy and community. Festival-goers didn’t go home to a hotel or even a bed after seeing some of today’s biggest names in music—their home for the weekend was just a few feet away from the main stages in campgrounds, creating a community music festi-ville akin to 1960s Woodstock.

Completely volunteer-driven, the event is a bit of a free-for-all, as patrons openly partook in outrageous behavior with very few repercussions (security was almost nonexistent). Still, respect for one another was of utmost importance, and the lack of security was not remotely a problem for the four-day event. “Happy roo!” was the catchphrase of the weekend, and fellow concertgoers quickly became a close-knit community of friends, only if for the weekend.

Tennessee brought a mix of bohemian style influenced by the southern mark of Tennessee, with plenty of chaco slippers accompanying paisley skirts, bejeweled sundresses and bandanas—festival style at Bonnaroo far superseded the fashion of smaller music festivals in the area, and the boho-chic attire of all attendees enhanced the feeling that the small farm was not reality, but an escape to a different world in a different time period out of a fairytale.

The Flaming Lips brought one of the most intense performances, closing their show with “Do You Realize” as thousands of blissful fans sang along to the coveted classic. Their cover of “Lucy in the Sky” had nostalgic audience members awestruck as a stunning cloud of smoke and glitter burst into the night sky at every chorus. The moment connected 2014’s Bonnaroo event back to the Woodstock era it so closely resembles, embodying the serenity and deep regard for music and humankind that permeated the small patch of land in Tennessee this weekend.

Kanye West stole the crowd Friday night after going on an hour-long tyrade about the press. Still, West played an unbelievable set, playing classics like “Through the Wire” and “Runaway” and finishing his set with an encore of “Blood of the Leaves.”

Elton John closed the show Sunday night, the perfect artist to wrap up the event. Admitting this to be his first American festival, John opened with the “Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” “Candle in the Wind” and “Bennie and the Jets.”

The Bonnaroo experience, however, has its drawbacks—festival-goers oftentimes find themselves rushing from venue to venue in order to see as many acts as possible and get their money’s worth. This atmosphere inherently sacrifices the connection to the artists they are seeing, as individuals don’t get to experience a full set because they are rushing to the next one. For those who want to see as many acts as possible in one weekend, Bonnaroo is worth the hefty ticket prices. For those who want to find a deeper connection to an artist would perhaps fare better buying a ticket to one solo performance of their favorite artist.

For 80,000 people for four days, there was no concept of work, school, or real-life obligations in the little campground that hosted Bonnaroo; these things were just a distant memory of another lifetime. Bonnaroo provides a fantasy world where real-life problems don’t exist and Kanye West, Elton John and Lionel Richie in the flesh are all within eyesight, serenading you. It’s beautiful and magical in ways you’ll never experience elsewhere.

Come Monday morning, Bonnaroovians unwillingly packed up their campsites, woke up from their fever dream and headed back to reality, wondering if what had taken place was real or not.